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NASB | Revelation 20:14 Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Revelation 20:14 Then death and Hades [the realm of the dead] were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire [the eternal separation from God]. [Matt 25:41; 1 Cor 15:26] |
Subject: Hell/Lake of Fire |
Bible Note: What Is Death Physical death is the separation of the spirit from the body (Eccl 12:7; James 2:26). The Bible does not say the spirit is dead w/out the body but that the "body is dead w/out the spirit." The spirit does not die. The spirit departs the body at death (Genesis 35:18). Death is described as "giving up the ghost" (Genesis 25:8). On the cross Jesus said "into Your hands I commend My spirit" (Luke 23:46). Paul spoke of death as a departing in 1 Timothy 4:6 and Philippians 1:23-24. The miracle of bringing a person back to life in Biblical times was simply the returning of the spirit to the body. Elijah prayed that the son of the widow of Zarephath might be restored to life. "I pray thee, let this child's soul come into him again... and the soul of the child came into him again and he revived" 1 Kings 17.21-22. David did not consider his dead child non-existent (2 Samuel 12.23). That the dead continue to live is further emphasized by Christ when He said to the dying penitent robber, "To-day shalt thou be with me in Paradise" Luke 23.43. The spirits disembodied state between death and the resurrection is taught in the account of the transfiguration of Christ w/ Moses and Elijah (Matthew 17.1-8). He appeared and talked w/ them. Moses had been dead 1500 yrs and his body buried in an unknown grave. Yet both he and Elijah were still in existence, retaining their personal id and individuality. Mark 12.26-27 "But as touching the dead, that they are raised; have ye not read in the book of Moses, in the place concerning the Bush, how God spake unto him, saying, I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? He is not the God of the dead, but of the living..." Are The Dead Conscious What is the condition of the soul after death and before the resurrection? Is the departed soul conscious? Read carefully Luke 16.19-31. Two great facts can be learned from this teaching: 1) death is not extinction; the spirit survives the dissolution of the body, 2) disembodied spirits are conscious between physical death and the resurrection, and either happy or miserable, depending upon the life they lived on earth. Eccl 9.5 is often used to prove that the dead are unconscious. This passage has reference solely to what the dead can know or do "under the sun," that is in the world they once lived. After death ones activity ceases on earth therefore he knows nothing about what is happening on earth. Where Are The Dead Where is the spirit after it leaves the body. The soul is not in the grave w/ the body, nor does it hover near the grave nor has it enter some other body. Any idea of transmigration or reincarnation of souls is at odds w/ Biblical teaching. The Bible says: “…the spirit returneth unto God who gave it” (Eccl 12.7). Where then do the souls go at death? Is it to their eternal abode or to some intermediate abode? Matt 25.31-46 describing the final judgment says: “Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world…Depart from me, ye cursed, into the eternal fire…And these shall go away into eternal punishment: but the righteous into eternal life.” Hence, souls do not enter their eternal state, either heaven or hell, at the moment of death. The place where all disembodied spirits dwell between death and the resurrection is Hades. In Luke 16.23 the spirits of both Lazarus and the rich man were in Hades. “And in Hades he lifted up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.” In Acts 2 we learn the spirit of Jesus went to Hades at His death. “For David saith concerning Him…because Thou wilt not leave My soul unto Hades.” When a man dies his spirit goes to Hades, his body to the grave. Hades is divided into compartments. Paradise (abode of the righteous) and Tartarus (abode of the wicked). At the resurrection all will come before Jesus for judgment then sent to their final destiny heave or hell. Four words translated “hell” in the KJV of the Bible: 1) Hades – The place to which all spirits go at death, regardless of moral character. Signifies only the region of disembodied spirits. The grave denotes only the receptacle of the body. 2) Gehenna – denotes the final abode of the wicked, the hell of fire. Used 12x in the Greek NT. 3) Tartarus – Only 1x in Greek NT, 2 Pet 2.4. The compartment of Hades occupied by the wicked between death and the resurrection as they await final judgment. This is where the rich man was in Luke 16. In this place he suffered torment. Although he was in anguish he was not in Gehenna (cf. 2 Pet 2.9). 4) Sheol – An OT word translated “hell” (in the KJV) parallels the Greek term Hades. Both mean the unseen realm of departed spirits. |